Brazil has one of the richest talent pool in the world. Many Brazilians have been capped by other national teams. Equatorial Guinea, Togo and Japan are among countries that capped the most Brazilians. Even Germany and Italy, two countries that won 4 World Cup each, capped Brazilian-born players. Anfilogino Guarisi became the first Brazil-born player to win the World Cup when Italy won the World Cup in 1934. Pepe, Deco, Marcos Senna and Diego Costa would have contributed to the Brazilian national team if they chose to represent Brazil. In fact, Jose Altafini has won a World Cup with Brazil in 1958. Marco Senna won the European Championship with Spain.

Team GK: Guilherme Marinato (Russia)Guilherme Marinato made his professional debut for Atlético Paranaense in 2005. In August 2007, Guilherme signed a five-year contract with FC Lokomotiv Moscow, becoming the first Brazilian goalkeeper in Russian football. In 2015, he became a Russian citizen. He played his first senior national team game in 2016. He was also a backup at the European Championship in 2016.GK: Mauricio Viana (Chile)Born in Sao Paulo, he moved ti Chile when he was 5 years old. He made his professional debut with Santiago Wanderers in 2008. He had a loan spell in Mexico with Jaguares de Chiapas de México. At the time of writing, Mauricio Viana has only played in friendlies for Chile. He only sat on the bench. However, he had represented Chile at the youth level.

Danilo was a journeyman in Brazil, mainly in the lower division. He was one of the players recruited by Brazilian coach Antônio Dumasto to play for Equatorial Guinea in 2006. He had no ties with the country. He had not even played club football there. He had 19 caps with them.RB: Mario Fernandes (Russia)Mario Fernandes made his name with Gremio in Brazil, where he played from 2009 to 2012. In 2012, he joined CSKA Moscow. In 2014, he played a single game for Brazil against Japan in a friendly match. After receiving his Russia citizenship in 2016, he opted to play for Russia. In 2017, he made his debut for Russia.

CB: Pepe (Portugal)Pepe left Brazil to join CS Maritimo in Portugal as a teenage. In 2004, he joined Porto, where he won two league titles. Then, 2008, he made a big move to Real Madrid. At the time of writing, he has played 7 seasons with them, winning the Champions' League in 2014. In 2008, he became a naturalized Portuguese citizen. He went to the European Championship in 2008 and 2012, and the WC finals in 2010 and 2014.

Pepe

CB: Ernani Pereira (Azerbaijan)Ernani Pereira played in Brazil before heading to play in Europe. He first played for Konyaspor in Turkey. He then played for Farvan FK in Azerbaijan from 2005 to 2010. In 2006, he started to play for their national team. He earned a total of 11 caps for Azerbaijan.

CB/DM: Donato (Spain)Donato began his career with America Football Club in his hometown, switching to neighbours CR Vasco da Gama in 1984. From 1988 to 2003, he played in Spain. He started with Atletico Madrid. He became a star with Deportivo La Coruna during the most successful period in the club's history. They won La Liga in the 1999-2000 season. He earned 12 caps for Spain and went to Euro 1996 in England.

CB/DM: Mehmet Aurelio (Turkey)Mehmet Aurelio played with Flamengo and Olaria in Brazil before moving to Turkey.He played for Trabzonspor, Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş with a stint with Real Betis in between. Born in Brazil, he chose to play forTurkey. He earned 37 caps, playing at the European Championship in 2008. He was also Turkish Player of the Year in 2007.

Mehmet Aurelio

LB: Lúcio Wagner (Bulgaria)Before 2002, he played for many clubs, including Benfica and Sevilla. He moved to Cherno More in Bulgaria in 2002. A year later, he joined Levski Sofia. They became the first Bulgarian side to reach group stage of Champions' League in 2006-2007. In 2006, Wagner was granted Bulgarian nationality, and made his debut for the national team on 9 May, in a Kirin Cup match against Japan.

LB: Leandro (Hungary) He has also played for Brazilian clubs Londrina, Corinthians, Atlético Paranaense, and Hungarian clubs Debreceni VSC, Ferencváros, MTK, Haladás and Bük. At the time of writing, he plays for AC Omonia. After residing in Hungary for 5 years since the age of 17, he became a naturalized citizen of Hungary. He had 16 caps for Hungary.

DM: Marcos Senna (Spain)Before 2002, Marcos Senna played for various clubs in Brazil. In 2002, he joined Villarreal in La Liga. He stayed there until 2013. He helped the club to reach the semifinal of the Champions' League in 2006. He became a Spanish citizen in 2006. He went to the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany. He also helped Spain to win the European Championship in 2008 as a starting defensive midfielder.

Senna

CM: Thiago Motta (Italy)Thiago Motta obtained Italian citizenship because of his Italian grandfather. He had previously represented Brazil twice but for the U-23 team at the 2003 Gold Cup. He cleared to play for Italy in 2010. He represented Italy at Euro 2012 and Brazil 2014. For his club career, he played for Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Genoa, Inter Milan and Paris St. Germain.

Thiago Alcantara is the son of the 1994 World Cup winner Mazinho. He was born in Italy when his father was playing in Italy. He joined Barcelona in 2005. He was a star with the Spanish Under-21 team as they won the European Under-21 Championship in 2013. In 2013, he shocked the Barcelona fans by joining Bayern Munich.

AM: Sammir (Croatia)Sammir's career did not take off until he joined Dinamo Zagreb in 2006. He played 6 seasons there, earning a Croatian citizenship. He earned his first cap for Croatia in 2012. He went to the World Cup Finals in 2014 with Croatia. After the World Cup Finals, he moved to Getafe in Spain. Now, he also played club football in China.

AM: Deco (Portugal) Deco was signed by Benfica from Brazil as a teenager, but he never played for them. Instead, from 1999 to 2004, he starred for Porto, where they won the UEFA Cup in 2003 and the Champions' League in 2004. He would win his second Champions' League in 2006 with Barcelona. He made Portugal's debut ironically against Brazil in 2003. He went to Germany 2006 and South 2010, and Euro 2004 and Euro 2008.

Deco

FW: Liedson (Portugal)Liedson moved to Sporting CP in 2003 after playing for Corinthians and Flamengo without successes. From 2003 to 2011, he scored 173 goals for them, becoming one of the club's greatest players. He helped them to reach the UEFA Cup Final in 2005. He was first capped by Portugal in 2009 and went to play at 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa.

FW: Eduardo da Silva (Croatia)He played with Bangu's youth team before Dinamo Zagreb discovered him. He joined their youth squad in 1999. He made his professional debut two seasons later. He became a star at the club and was crowned Croatia's Player of the Year in 2006. In 2007, he made a big move to Arsenal, but he suffered a serious injury in 2008. He represented Croatia at full international since 2004. He went to Euro 2012 and Brazil 2014.

Eduardo da Silva

FW: Anfilogino Guarisi (Italy)In Brazil, he was known as Filo. He played for Brazil in 1925, but he missed the 1930 World Cup Finals became only players from Rio de Janeiro went to the Finals in Uruguay. He moved to Lazio in 1931, joining other Brazilian-Italians there. The club earned the nickname "Brasilazio". In Italy, he used his real name Guarisi. His mother was Italian. So in1934, he played for Italy at the WC Finals. ST: Angelo Sormani (Italy)In Brazil, he was Pele's backup at Santos. He moved to Italian club Mantova F.C. in 1961. In 1963, Roma bought him for a world record fee. He did not play well with Roma and moved to Sampdoria after a single season. He finally found his successes at Milan. He won the European Cup in 1969, the Cup Winners' Cup in 1968 and the Intercontinental Cup in 1969. He played 7 times for Italy because of his Italian ancestry. He went to the WC in 1962.

ST: Cacau (Germany)Cacau moved to Germany to play fifth level football in 1999. He earned a move to Nürnberg in 2001. He joined VfB Stuttgart in 2003 and stayed there until 2014.He won the Bundesliga in 2007. He became a German citizen in 2009. He made his German national team debut in the same year. He went to the World Cup Finals in 2010.

ST: Luis Oliveira (Belgium)Luis Oliveira left Brazil to join Anderlecht in 1988. In 1992, he left Belgium and played in Italy's Serie A. He played for Cagliari, Fiorentina, Bologna, Como, Catania, Foggia, Venezia and Lucchese from 1992 to 2011. He was very successful for Cagliari and Fiorentina. He was naturalised citizen of Belgium. He was capped 31 times and went to France 1998.

Luis Oliveira

ST: Jose Altafini "Mazzola" (Italy)He started his career with Palmeiras before joining AC Milan right after the WC Finals in 1958. From 1958 to 1976, he scored 216 goals in Serie A making him the joint-fourth highest scorer in Serie A history. He won the European Cup in 1963, scoring 14 goals, which was finally broken by Cristano Ronaldo in 2014. He made played for Brazil, using the name "Mazzola". In 1962, he played for Italy at the World Cup Finals. He earned 6 caps for Italy scoring 5 goals.

ST: Diego Costa (Spain)Until the age of 16, he was not playing for club football. He joined Atletico Madrid in 2006, but did not become a star until the 2013-2014 season. In March, 2013, he made his national debut for Brazil. However, by summer of 2013, he decided to switch his commitment to Spain after becoming Spanish citizens, which caused a controversy in Brazil. He is believed to be the first Brazilian to turn his back against his country.

-- I tried to select only players who moved to a country for football reasons. The players came to those countries as footballers. Kevin Kuranyi (Germany), Benny Feilhaber (USA), etc are ineligible. They were sons of Brazilian immigrants. They moved to those adopted countries for reassons other than football. For example , Kuranyi would still be living in Germany if he is a baker, a lawyer, a teacher, ect. -- However, I made an exception for Mauricio Viana because of the lack of a good keeper. He remained an uncapped players. The other option at goalkeepe is Phan Van Santos who played for Vietnam.-- Anfilogino Guarisi, Angelo Sormani and Jose Altafini were of Italian ancestry, but they went to Italy for "football reasons".
-- Matias Aguirregaray was born to Uruguayan parents in Brazil. His father was a former player named Oscar Aguirregaray who was playing in Brazil when Matias was born.-- Douglas (Holland) was originally on this team. He never played for Holland, but he sat on the bench for at least one game. Originally, I have to select since I could not find a rightback. I took him name off the team after I found Mario Fernandes (Russia).-- Marcos Gonzalez (Chile) was born in Brazil of Chilean parents. He moved back to Chile as a 2 years old. So I excluded him. He is Chilean.-- Ruy Ramos received an honor mention because he was one of the greatest Japanese players of all-time.-- Thiago Alcântara is eligible because he is the son of Mazinho, which made Thiago Alcântara very Brazilian. Furthermore, he was born in Italy, not Spain. He lived briefly in Spain when he was growing up, but he spent part of his youth career with Flamengo, which made him a Brazilian footballer in Brazil. He went to Spain in 2005 because Barcelona signed him as a footballer. He was in Spain for footballing reasons. Zague (Mexico)'s story is similar, but he was born in Mexico. He returned to Brazil and was playing youth football there before going back to Mexico for "football reasons".-- Jonathan dos Santos (Mexico) is different from Thiago. His fathers is a former Brazilian footballers playing in Mexico, but he decided to settle down in Mexico. So Jonathan dos Santos would have been living in Mexico if he chose not to become a footballer. He also has a Mexican mother.-- Tiago Silva (Bulgaria)'s single cap in 2006 for Bulgaria was ruled ineigible by FIFA since he played for the youth team of Brazil. He was capped by Bulgaria before FIFA changed its rule in 2009.-- Jose Altafini was known as Mazzola in Brazil. When he moved to Italy, he became known as Jose Altafini. He was actually a part of Brazil's World Cup winning team in 1958.-- Anfilogino Guarisi is the first Brazilian to have won the World Cup. He played for Italy in 1934, of course.-- There are many attackers and leftbacks eligible for the team, but there ain't many center-backs. Tony Menezes was also eligible, but he went to Canada for non-football reasons. Marcus Túlio Tanaka(Japan) was born in Brazil of Japanese ancestry. He moved to Japan as a teenager for non-football reason. So I excluded him. Cristiano Cordeiro (Hong Kong) was also considered as he was one of the few center-backs available.-- Most players "turned" down representing Brazil because Brazil did not need him. Heading to the WC Finals in 2014, Brazil was in need of a better striker. Diego Costa actually played for Brazil 6 months before he switched to Spain. He turned his back toward Brazil. Scolari commented on him, "A Brazilian player who refuses to wear the shirt of the Brazilian national team and compete in a World Cup in your country is automatically withdrawn. He is turning his back on a dream of millions, to represent our national team, the five-time champions in a World Cup in Brazil."-- Senna, Deco and Pepe would have contributed to Brazil. They never turned down Brazil. Deco probably would have limited chances playing for Brazil because Brazil had plenty of attacking midfielders during his prime. Pepe is around the same age as Dante, Thiago Silva and David Luiz. He would probably make it with Brazil.